Have you dealt with or do you have Asperger's Syndrome? Stories, Quirks, & Symptoms Needed Please?

Question

What I am asking here is for anyone that has AS, or has children with AS (or has had an experience dealing with AS in some way, shape, or form) to please tell me your stories, quirks, symptoms...I have read the "lists" of symptoms online...tell me about your experiences with real life.

This is for my own knowledge in trying to understand myself, my daughter, and my son.... I want a better understanding of Asperger's and life.

Please tell me anything you want (within Yahoo guidelines). I never know what might trigger an "understanding" of a subject with me.

Thank you very much for reading this....and thank you as well for answering this request.

Answer 1

There is an awesome book called "look me in the eye" by John Elder Robison.
John was diagnosed with AS at approx 40 years of age but he always knew he was different. He tells of different experiences and his perception of those experiences. My favourite example is the first page of the book where he tells of playing in the dirt with another boy. John's way of playing was to dig holes and put particular colour blocks into each whole... never mix the blocks of course!! The other boy puts a red block with John;s blue blocks and John is sooooo oerwhelmed by such a simple situation as he doesn't understand that there is more than one way to play in the dirt... so .... he hits the other boy. I just love the example as it shows that even though we might not see a trigger for different "bad" behaviours, the child with AS certainly sees a trigger.

As for my own experiences, I work with a few different children with AS. One of these children is always in trouble in school. His teacher can hardly control him. I have NEVER seen this behaviour. For me he is the most polite boy I have ever met. If he sees me in the playground he will run over and open a door for me with a very polite "there you go Bec". Whenever I see him, he will shake my hand to say hi. My best discription of this boy is that he is "beyond his years". He acts like an adult man in the way he talks with adults... shaking hands, overly polite etc. Another boy that I work with is in grade 6 (Aus school system so about 11 years old) and the best way to describe him is that he is a "know it all". He does know alot but even if he is wrong, he tells what he knows with all the confidence in the world.
I don't really know what else to offer.
I strongly believe that kids with AS will find their path in life, they will work out eventually that particular things that do are "odd" and that they should avoid doing them. I also think that on the most part, it is useless trying to sit down and teach them how to act. They learn more from experience. If they do something and it gets a bad response, they learn that they probably shouldn't do it again. If they watch eveyone else doing the "right" social thing, they realise that that is the "proper" way to act.
In all honestly, I could not give a higher recommendation of the book I told you about. It gives a very valuable insight into the different thought processes of someone with AS... another good book is "10 things every child with autism wishes you knew". It is more for the "lower functioning" forms of Autism but it also gives some very interesting insights.
Anyways, sorry to ramble on. I hope I have helped.... even just a little bit. Feel free to email me if you want me to expand on anything or if you have any questions you think I might be able to help with. As a speech pathologist, I have done a fair amount of work with autism and AS.
Good luck and my commendations for trying to find out more about AS than just what is listed in books.

Answer 2

I think if I were going to tell you anything it would be that autism is genetic and therefore non-curable and non-treatable. Keeping that in mind, self-acceptance goes a long way in helping people with AS to cope in the world. Educating others about what AS is also helps. Every person in the world is different, and we make accommodations for everyone whether we realize it or not. But we only tend to notice when the accommodations are large. If you have guests over to a meal, for example, chances are you would serve something everyone would like so that those with more sensitive taste buds would not be affected. But if there were a person who was allergic to peanuts and shellfish, and strawberries, and other kinds of things, you would be hard-pressed to have a soiree. The people with those allergies would stand out of the crowd because of their allergies. Yet why should they? They are simply different, and ought to be accommodated for just as any other person is. Having a label of Asperger Syndrome is no reason not to accommodate a person. And people who are not accommodated can really be affected terribly. Just keep an open mind and try to understand those with AS. It will be beneficial to do so all around.

Answer 3

Our son has Aspergers Syndrome.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome
http://www.aspergers.com/
http://www.autism.org/asperger.html

Where to begin???
He was diagnosed at age 2 with autism- but not with Aspergers until Kindergarten. He is now 11. He is mainstreamed in the regular classroom. He receives occupational, physical, and speech therapy at school. He receives therapy outside of school. He is also on Zoloft for depression, Concerta for ADHD behaviors, and Risperadol for Autism symptoms- the symptoms include the hand flapping and the self injury.

He is a great kid. He is compassionate, has better morals than most people I know and loves animals. He is fixated right now on Legos. Before that it was Godzilla, and before that dinosaurs.

He has very poor writing skills and struggles with fine motor control. He is not yet able to tie his own sneakers- but can make a great knot!

He is funny without meaning to be funny:
A few weekends ago I had asked him to empty the dishwasher and he was taking forever. I wanted to be done with the kitchen and watched him. He was removing one dish at a time and carefully setting it down so it wouldn't rattle. I asked him what the deal was and he said, "mommy, our dishes are too LOUD! We need quieter dishes like at Grammy's...". We were cracking up because it never occured to us that the sound of the dishes bothered him. He hates noise and always has.

He is sensitive to the way clothing feels, the texture of foods and is a very finicky eater. He will say something has too much spice when for us and his baby sister, it is fine.

He is 11 and still attached at my hip. He likes being home and is very introspective. He used to have a lot of meltdowns and tantrums when he was younger- started at 13 months old. Gradually as he developed speech, they dwindled. He still gets fixated on things and cannot get "off" of them once he has started.

He does not care to go outside if all the kids are playing...he is in his own world. I have to draw him out. He talks about things that I cannot understand sometimes- questions that are not just high level, but hypothetical and have no definate answers. He wants answers and becomes upset that sometimes there are none.

So...he is a pleasure. We have a 15 month old now and she is completely the opposite. She is into everything, has no fears, etc. Last weekend, my husband said that our son was not like this- he had fears, he wouldn't attempt something if he didn't think it was safe. I remarked that our son has autism, but our daughter does not. He asked, "Maybe we could ask for just a little bit of autism next time???". It was funny because there are some quirlky benefits to it- if you have your average child and your autistic child, you see these things. At the same time, humor is sanity saving.

Good luck to you and your children!

Answer 4

Children with special needs require guides / mentors with an equally special gift for understanding. Beyond the medical aspects of the condition, dealing with aspergers syndrome or autism requires psychological nurturing on a much deeper level.

It's easy to be tired, frustrated and overwhelmed with the constant sense of 'being on the edge'; the sense of having no control over when or how a crisis might erupt. Dealing with an aggressive and temperamental child is just one part of the problem. It's the daily agony of it that causes much distress.

This is why you must realize that you're not alone in this fight. Connect with people (parents and others) in your community who have similar issues. Approach social workers and specialist community centers for help in this matter. Seek out people with expertise and experience who can help lessen the burden.

Only patience can help you and your family lead a normal, more positive life. The biggest thing is assuring and self-assurance.

Peace.

Answer 5

Hi there! I'm going to post you a link for "social stories" that I mentioned to you in a different post but forgot to post the link to the stories for you. I find that these types of stories really help the children I work with to adjust to different situations with more ease. Not seamlessly, but for sure with a lot more ease than they did before! There are a variety of different subjects on this website, and if you need more there are plenty of websites if you just search "autism social stories" on yahoo or any major search engine. Hopefully this helps you out!
http://www.polyxo.com/socialstories/
Take care!

Answer 6

Hi Hon...

there are also forums for people with asperger's and you can do a yahoo search to find them.. you will be able to post to people who are in the same situation and who can offer help and support, i'm sure.

take care.